Ameridrives Custom Amerigear Couplings for Printing Press

A leading global commercial printing equipment manufacturer needed a
replacement coupling solution for a line of its printing presses. The original disc
type couplings, installed on the web press drive cylinders, lacked the required
torsional stiffness, causing the rollers to slip, which led to increased amounts of
defective printed materials (spoilage). The application had additional challenges,
including extremely tight space limitations and very small (38 mm) cylinder shafts.
The goal was to obtain a coupling with significantly higher torsional stiffness
(10 to 15x) in a similar-sized package utilizing shrink disc connections.

Ameridrives engineers developed a custom modified Amerigear flexible coupling that
accommodated the customer required stiffness, incorporated a shrink disc for quick
assembly/disassembly, fit in limited available space, and allowed for .30" of axial
travel. The unique coupling also incorporated pneumatic air flow holes proprietary
to the customer’s design. The air passages are used to cool the paper roll while the
press is static.